Dear Buck Hill Diary...

[Speedzilla]

Ha ha ha ha! That's Hilarious! :lol:

Trent/Dave: (Glad there were no injuries.)

No kidding. As I tumbled past Trent, I was sooooo freaking worried that I had injured him in some way. Damaged equipment or cameras I could pay for, if I had injured him, I don't know what I would have done.

Thankfully, there was no damage done, and I'll be a bit more careful next time.

As Trent said.... "DUDE! This camera HAS a zoom lens!" :D

[Bubba]

I was thinking about coming up tomorrow if it is still on. What size board should I bring?

Kenton

[Scuff]

Kenton: - Cool - See ya there!

It's only "Misting" out right now, so I'm hoping it'll turn to snow soon.

Carving Cup is all about speed and big turns.

I'll probably ride my 183.

~Karl

[Bubba]

So would the Burner 197 work?

[Speedzilla]

So would the Burner 197 work?

[bobble]

went out from 12pm till 3pm. it was on the soft side of being hero snow. kinda fun actually. i came home drenched. my hands were severely pruned.

i think someone must've changed their diaper right out on milkrun. seriously, where does that brown snow come from? its all over the place!!!

i made a new lift friend. we accidentally knocked boots while getting on the chair. after exchanging the usual pleasantries i introduced myself to her as Marty McFly. she said her name was Martha Stewart.

i hereby declare Martha the new buck hill bunny of the week.

[bobble]

its raining. can't frickn' believe it.

time for Buck Hill Season Pass Holder Hard Core Watch. so far the chairs are running but no one is on them. time is 9:52 AM.

crap, now the camera is out of control.

maybe i'll hit the roller rink.

[Speedzilla]

A little snow on the way today, and a possibility for some colder nights this week should get things back on track. Keep your fingers crossed.

[bobble]

on my way to skateville i drove over to buck just for a look-see. it started sleeting around 1:50pm. there were a few people there. seemed like the parking lot over by the buckstone was fairly crowded. there were tubers going in the rain.

a friend and i went to skateville. we sometimes go when the weather isn't cooperating. i rollerblade just about as bad as i board - fair to midland. disco stu was there. this guy is hard to miss. he's one of the djs, about mid 30's, disco-fro, rides rollerskates and does all this rollerdisco moves. he's actually quite impressive but on the same token kinda weird. so disco stu started tailing my ass. in my peripheral vision i kept seeing disco 2-3 feet behind me. i'd turn then he'd turn. i'd try to outskate him and he'd follow. so i pulled over to the side. i was thinking the next time he does that i was going to throw an elbow. then he starts tailing my friend. the hokey pokey came on so we went to sit it out "because that's what its all about!". disco stu comes directly right up to us laughing with a bag of Famous Amos cookies. he extends the bag of cookies to me and then my friend. we both declined non verbally. he skated away and found someone else to harass.

it was strange. you just don't walk up to adult males offering free cookies. beer? HELL YEAH!!! cookies??? WTF IS YOUR MALFUNCTION?!?

after an hour of blading we left. thank God its snowing right now.

[trent]

LMAO!!! i'll know who the police should start looking for if you go missing after a session at the roller rink!

did he have some "jesus juice" he wanted you to try too?

[bobble]

LMAO!!! i'll know who the police should start looking for if you go missing after a session at the roller rink!

did he have some "jesus juice" he wanted you to try too?

yeah, i think i might have to start avoiding that place. i usually go to the dome but there was a game scheduled so skateville was the only choice.

he didn't have the jesus juice, just a bag of Famous A%#$ cookies.

[bobble]

today the conditions at buck were fair considering the rain we had yesterday; sunny day, temp below 32F, grooming, hardly any people, no race courses. the bottom half of crossroads was icy and granular. milkrun was better. there were death cookies on the backside going to teachers pet. powder ridge was okay.

i tweaked my bindings to 63F, 57R. not sure what the cant or lift is set at. i felt a little pidgeon toed with the rear boot. i'm hoping that facing towards the nose will help prevent counter-rotation. chime in if you got suggestions.

as part of buck's expansion plan, they've added a new international airport. this is great news. unfortunately it can only be seen on the kstp skycam. you can't see the airport from the top of buck because its made to look like crystal lake using a cloaking device hidden in the clock tower. (seriously, the kstp skycam is showing the Mpls International airport).

-bubbles-

[BobD]

Knows you like to drown your boarding sorrows with cookies.

BobD

[bobble]

i went out in the evening. i was expecting total ice so rode in softboots. the snow wasn't icy at all except maybe at the bottom flats. it almost looked like they blew some snow or moved some around because it seemed like there was a lot of good snow. there seemed to be good snow even on the backside to teachers pet. the icy patches were smaller than i remember from sunday.

i think the conditions on crossroads would've been carveable but their were small piles of loose snow. it would've been a challenge albeit a small one. the skiiers were having no troubles carving in it.

powder ridge, no effin' way. that run is really screwed up by the race training. lots of ruts. the snow on the terrain park is really good.

if i get off work at a reasonable time i might venture out tomorrow on hardboots.

[Scuff]

Wow, What a night at Hyland! :D

The snow was on the soft side, but not slushy.

Moderately fast, very carve-able, and in incredibly good

condition considering the curveball that "Ma-Nature" has

thrown us this year.

For G-Team practice, we set a full GS course on South, complete with panels.

The rider turnout was absolutely incredible! Best I've ever seen!

There were 8 riders on plates, 3 on freestyle gear, 4 from the

masters group, and 4 of us coaches for a grand total of

19 running the course!!

The interest is exciting - This Saturday I'll be doing demos

with 4 more who are either switching to alpine, or are just "Alpine Curious."

Skiiers in the lift line are starting to ask "Is that an alpine board?"

Instead of "What is that thing?"

[bobble]

The interest is exciting - This Saturday I'll be doing demos

with 4 more who are either switching to alpine, or are just "Alpine Curious."

Skiiers in the lift line are starting to ask "Is that an alpine board?"

Instead of "What is that thing?"

sounds like the action is at hyland.

alpine curious? i like that.

high five.

[pebu]

I used to be alpine curious... Now I'm more bi-boardal... At separate times of course. I'm not one of those freaks who likes 2 boards at the same time..

[kirtap]

I really wanted to get out to Hyland today too. I haven't been out in over a week and its starting to keep me up at night....Too bad work has been going crazy these last few weeks and is starting to put me on 2 or 3 weeknights, along with the usual weekend mornings. I'm going up to Lutsen next weekend with some friends. Has anyone been up there recently? Anyone going to be up there next weekend? (MLK Weekend)

[bobble]

... I'm going up to Lutsen next weekend with some friends. Has anyone been up there recently? Anyone going to be up there next weekend? (MLK Weekend)

MLK weekend at lutsen? everytime i've gone there on MLK it was 15 below with a -30F windchill. one year they had serious wind so they shut down the bridge lift (i hate that lift). the only way back was a rope behind a snowcat. haven't been there in a couple years.

hopefully it'll be decent up there for you. at buck and welch the snow is like carving on a grape squisheee...

[BobD]

It was soft but not slushy and would have been very good if the race ruts had not started pushing through the grooming.

BobD

[bobble]

i was at welch today (friday). it was very soft snow. kept losing heelside edge. flat light didn't help either.

[bobble]

today was partly cloudy. temp around 31F. run appeared to be groomed but there was ski racing and so crossroads was pretty scorched. the number of skiers to snowboarders on crossroads/milkrun was probably 50:1.

i had a collision with a kid on skis on milkrun. i was towards the bottom half and was on toe-side edge heading towards the blue netting. i was going fast and the board had unweighted off of a rut or something. my turn was turning into a wide turn and i was about to switch back to heal side to avoid the fence. in my peripheral vision i saw ski tips. i fell to my hip. we hit. events aren't clear but we somehow got tangled. i remember feeling part of the impact on my front boot. i came to an immediate stop and felt a little bruising on my hip from hitting the ground. the kid's skis were right near me. i look downhill and this kid was about 20 feet away curled up and not moving. i'm thinking "crap, the kid has a broken leg". i heard someone nearby shouting "go get help".

bob d. came down. he said didn't see it happen other than he saw i was down. a bunch of ski patrol guys showed up. the kid was still not moving. it took me awhile to get up. i started to get nervous. i didn't know what to say or do. the patrollers were checking him over and the kid wasn't moving. then someone started to help the kid get up.

the patrollers asked "did anyone see it happen?" i said i was the one that was in the collision and that i was downhill cutting across when we collided. the kid said i popped out of nowhere. they asked if i was okay. i said that i just got a bruise is all.

i was nervous because it was a scene. as we all know anytime a skier and a snowboarder get into an accident, the boarder is to blame. the kid's father was there. he didn't see the accident but he apologized to me and asked if i was okay. i asked if his son was hurt. his son said that when we hit he flipped in the air and landed on his chest and got the wind knocked out.

i tried to reconstruct the collision and i'm still not sure what happened. i'm certain that our boots hit. in retrospect i think i freaked. i think i slid into him on my hip and hands. the skis popped off when we hit.

bob and i went inside the chalet and saw the kid and his dad. bob talked to them for a bit. the kid was racing today and seemed okay. i was grateful that he wasn't seriously injured. he should have been wearing a helmut. i don't understand how he could be racing without a helmet. we chided him on that.

bob, thanks for being there for me. i think your presence helped diffuse the situation. at least thats how i felt.

my board has a new gouge on the top all the way down to the fabric. i went back out after awhile but i was really spooked. there were just too frickn' many skiers. conditions weren't all that great anways. it was chunky. left early.

on the bright side ...

the guy from november snowboards showed up today. he's riding one of his freeride boards with cateks. he heard about the Welch session from a friend at Welch. he might show up. amazing how word gets around.

[Scuff]

Ugh...poor Bobble.

My stomach sank reading your recount... "The kid wasn't moving.."

Ugh.. Those situations are a whole lot of "no-fun."

Last year I watched a reckless skiier collide with Trent on Bakki @ Welch.

Trent absorbed most of the force and just spun out, but the skiier went

airborne....then landed and slid some ways down the hill..

Trent says to the guy: "You alright?....Yeah, We make big turns.."

(It's a lot funnier now than it was then..)

"I don't like confrontations" - Rex, Toy Story

Glad to hear there were no major injuries. I've heard horrible

stories about collisions with moguls and hemato.. Oh, wait.. that

was you.. Stay away from power tools, okay?

~Karl

[bobble]

i went there and left after three runs. i was out on my factory prime. my edges were dull and no wax. i was wiping out toe-side and heel-side. i thought conditions weren't too bad but i didn't want to wipe out in front of any more kids. it was crowded and i was very wary of the racers.

i saw from the chair two skiers carve almost right into each other where i had my collision. their skis touched but they recovered.

just as well, i went home and brought my boards into Eriks.

maybe Scuff can fill in the rest.

[Scuff]

You made the right choice leaving when you did bobble.

We didn't last too much longer.

Conditions quickly went from "challenging and moderately busy" to

puree/ice, and insanely crowded.... Racers... EVERYWHERE!

Had to wait for a "Window of Opportunity" to drop in.

(Can I get a WoO, WoO? :lol: )

I saw two skiiers collide right below the 2nd lift tower.. the smaller

one went down screaming.. he got a ride in the meat-wagon, with I assume,

a broken leg.

Also saw an older gentleman get clipped by a younger racer and

he went down... hard.. I stopped to pick up his broken goggles,

and bring some order to the yard-sale... he looked dazed - had the wind really knocked out of him.

Redtail Ridge - heading off the back to the parking lot, was hardpack and ski-racer free.. ended up being the best run of the day.

In hindsight, I wish I would have ridden that run all morning.

~Karl